From: Taube, Karl. Aztec and Maya Myths. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1993.

Precolumbian History

In comparison with Sumer, Egypt and other early civilisations of the Old World, those of Mesoamerica are of relatively recent origin. The Olmec, the first great culture of the region, and perhaps the first to warrant the term civilisation, developed in the tropical lowlands of southern Veracruz and neighbouring Tabasco. By the twelfth century BC the Olmec were constructing ceremonial architecture and monumental sculpture representing a complex iconography of cosmology, gods and symbols of rulership.

Figure 1. Colossal Head 1, La Venta (Olmec).

Figure 2. Altar 4, La Venta (Olmec).

Like later Mesoamerican societies the Olmec economy depended on farming, especially maize -- still the most important crop in Mesoamerica today. Another early civilisation, that of the Zapotec of highland Oaxaca, inscribed the earliest known instances of calendrics and writing in the region, and by 600 BC they were recording calendrical information of historical significance.

Figure 3. Main Plaza, Monte Alban (Zapotec).

Figure 4. Danzante Stone, Monte Alban (Zapotec).

The mountain city of Monte Alban served as the Zapotec capital for well over a thousand years. Whereas Olmec culture ended by 400 BC, the Zapotec remain one of the major native groups of contemporary Oaxaca.

The Protoclassic period (100 BC-AD 300) marks the development of complex urban cultures over much of ancient Mesoamerica. In the Maya region of eastern Mesoamerica, the lords of such sites as Izapa, Abaj Takalik, Kaminaljuyu, El Mirador, Uaxactun, and Tikal began erecting impressive monumental art and architecture. At Izapa, in particular, many stone monuments clearly portray mythological episodes.

Figure 5. Izapa Stela 25. Image courtesy of Rex Koontz.

Although known to the Protoclassic Maya, writing achieved an especially high level of complexity and importance during the following Classic period (AD 300-900). As a result of deciphering Maya glyphs, one can today voice the actual Mayan names of gods, cities, and kings.

Figure 6. Detail, Left Door Panel, Temple of the Cross, Palenque (Maya).

In addition, abundant texts and art graphically portray many aspects of Classic Maya mythology.(7)

Figure 7. Tablet, Patio of the Captives, Palenque (Maya).

Because of the artistic and architectural achievements at such sites as Palenque, Yaxchilan, Tikal, and Copan, the Classic period is commonly regarded as the apex of Maya civilisation.

Figure 8. Temple of the Sun, Palenque (Maya).

The inhabitants of these and other sites clearly shared similar beliefs, although there is no evidence that the Classic Maya were ever unified in a single empire or confederation. Instead, the picture appears to be one of competing city states, and by the end of the Classic period many Maya sites had been abandoned. However, this was not the end of Maya civilisation; its greatest known epic, the Popol Vuh, came from the pen of a sixteenth-century Quiche Maya. Indeed, sacred narrative continues to be a vigorous tradition among modern Maya peoples, although the main focus if this book is pre-Hispanic Maya mythology.

One site in particular, which rose to prominence during the Protoclassic period in central Mexico, was known by the later Aztec as Teotihuacan, meaning 'place of those who became gods'. This is where the sun and moon were created according to the mythology of the Aztec, who named its two greatest pyramids after the sun and the moon. The largest of these, the Pyramid of the Sun, was constructed about the beginning of the Christian era.

Figure 9. The Street of the Dead and the Pyramid of the Moon, Teotihuacan.
Image courtesy of Scott R. Hutson.

This massive structure directly overlies a natural cave -- a possible reference to the emergence of people out of the earth, a well-known creation episode in later Mesoamerica. At its height in the Classic period, Teotihuacan covered over 20 square kilometres (some 8 square miles) and contained a population of perhaps 200,000. The city's plastered walls were covered with brilliant mural paintings, many of which depict gods known to the subsequent Toltec and Aztec cultures of central Mexico.

Figure 10. Jaguar and Net Murals, Atetelco Compound, Teotihuacan.
Image courtesy of Annabeth Headrick.

By the beginning of the Early Postclassic period (AD 900-1250), Teotihuacan, Monte Alban, and many Maya sites were virtually abandoned. The central Mexican site of Tula, which dates from this period, is now known to be the legendary Tollan, the capital of the Toltecs ruled by Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl -- the human counterpart of the great god Quetzalcoatl.

Figure 11. Pyramid B, Tula (Toltec). Image courtesy of Christopher Beekman.

According to both central Mexican and Yucatec Mayan texts, Quetzalcoatl moved his capital to the red lands of the east, quite probably Yucatan. The site of Chichen Itza, in Yucatan, exhibits strong and specific Toltec traits, and clearly this site shared a very special relationship with Tula during the Early Postclassic period.

Figure 12. Temple of the Warriors, Chichen Itza (Maya).

Figure 13. El Castillo, Chichen Itza (Maya).

The Late Postclassic period (AD1250-1521) corresponds to the cultures encountered by the Spanish in the sixteenth century, and virtually all of the known surviving pre-Hispanic screenfold books date from this time. Moreover, early colonial works composed by both Spanish and native scholars provide a wealth of documentary material on Late Postclassic customs and beliefs. Whereas the Maya are best known for the Classic era, the Aztec, or Culhua-Mexico as they preferred to call themselves, were relative newcomers to central Mexico. Their great island capital of Tenochtitlan -- future site of Mexico City -- was not founded until approximately 1345. None the less, by the time of the Spanish conquest, less than two centuries later, the Aztec had created the greatest empire known in ancient Mesomerica.

Figure 14. Skull Rack, Templo Mayor, Tenochtitlan/Mexico City (Aztec-Mexica).

The origins and growth of the Aztec state are strongly reflected in Aztec religion. As a means of legitimisation, the Aztec aggressively adopted the beliefs and iconography of earlier peoples. For instance, the site of Tula, the legendary Toltec capital, was accorded special prominence, and certain Aztec gods can be traced back to Tula and still earlier Teotihuacan. The Aztec also incorporated religious practices from contemporaries, including peoples of Puebla, the Gulf Coast Huastec and the Mixtec of Oaxaca.

Figure 15. Page 1, Codex Selden (Mixtec).

The conscious adoption of foreign customs both solidified conquest and offered cultural unification; the Aztec even had a special temple, the Coateocalli, which contained the captured images of foreign gods. Although Aztec mythology thus has many deities and themes derived from other Mesoamerican cultures, certain myths are wholly Aztec -- particularly the mythic origins of Huitzilopochtli at Mount Coatepec, which served as a sacred charter for the expansion of the Aztec state.

Figure 16. Incense Burner and Serpent-headed Balustrade, Templo Mayor, Tenochtitlan/Mexico City (Aztec-Mexica).